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U.S. Cast on Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the get-your-fan-candy-here dept.

Siliconera writes "Last night in Hollywood Square-Enix and Sony showed the English version of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children on the big screen. Fans lined up overnight to snag tickets to the premiere event where many of the voice actors/actresses and director Tetsuya Nomura showed up. After seeing the film Rachel Leigh Cook said the movie was "stunning" and she's a 'fan (of Final Fantasy) as of today.' Mena Suvari (Aerith) said 'it was a great experience to be part of something with such a following.' About the movie, director and character creator Tetsuya Nomura said, 'This is a special piece for us and I hope it is for you.'"

92 comments

  1. It's just me... by Piroca · · Score: 0, Troll


    or there are other people who think that most dubbings in english are extremely annoying?

    1. Re:It's just me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      HOly cow you are remotely not alone. Theres a little sub-cult within the anime world hoping for things to happen.. Just think of D&R :) But yeah its annoying.. You cant have american chicks imitate high pitched japanese. Its like telling Bill gates to act like Cowboy Neal. :)

    2. Re:It's just me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      depends. on an animation, who cares, originally its like a reverse dubbing anyway. (record sound, make characters match the sound)

      on live action stuff - its a travesty, only marginally less annoying than the hollywood remake of a foreign film.

      its a testament to poor education. loads of people cant read subtitles and watch the film at the same time so they dub to reach the thicko market (which is HUGE). mind you even subtitles can be aimed at the daft too, during taxi 2 (that is the original french version of taxi, not the COMPLETE BLOODY TRAVESTY that hollywood made which can only be attoned by the immediate execution of everybody involved) the police chief refers to 'le roast bif' and we get the subtitles 'the limeys'. hell i dont know any french but that is pretty damn obvious.

      but the most pointless dubbing is in porn flicks. i mean... why? You might not be able to actually understand what they are saying, but you can get the meaning.

    3. Re:It's just me... by heinousjay · · Score: 0, Troll

      its a testament to poor education

      So is your post. I was taught to use capital letters and punctuation.

      I do so love a poorly written post decrying the intelligence of people that don't share the same taste as the author. There's nothing like reading a little undeserved snobbery to make me happy.

      --
      Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
    4. Re:It's just me... by PFI_Optix · · Score: 1

      Crouching Tiger: Hidden Dragon had a remarkably good dub. The voices (mostly) fit the characters, and the syncing was amazing. They just need to put the same effort in all dubs.

      Was there ever an official AC subtitle release? I know there was a fan-translated version on the web for a long time, but those can be rather unreliable. I watched part of it and I found the subs the be rather annoying (and I watch a lot of subbed foreign films).

      --
      120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
    5. Re:It's just me... by cluke · · Score: 1

      Apologies if you know this already and I'm missing your point, but "Le rosbif" is a slightly derogatory term for the English that the French use (referring to their lack of adventure in culinary circles). "Limeys" in that case sounds like good translation, a term that means more or less the same thing, but more likely to be familiar to a native English speaker.

      Worse was in L'Haine, where the character called "Asterix" is subtitled as "Snoopy". That's just insulting your intelligence.

    6. Re:It's just me... by Tipa · · Score: 1

      The Japanese DVD has English subs. They're okay.

      The film, Advent Children, is really short. They introduce the characters, and then they resolve the storyline, and then it is over. There isn't much to the movie, and if you have played FFVII, nothing much is going to surprise you.

      Tifa is the real star here. Her battle in the garden is simply amazing - and the cell phone ringtone afterward is a real laugh-out-loud moment.

      And I did like how they used Materia.

      It's a movie for fans. I can't imagine how they could ever get a real theatrical release from it; there's not enough there for non-fans.

    7. Re:It's just me... by JoshRosenbaum · · Score: 1

      I'm with you! I watch a decent amount of anime, and somehow I feel myself getting stupider with the dubbed english versions. The original Japanese is usually much higher quality.

      My guess is that problems comes from low English budgets combined with the thought that anime = cartoons and cartoons are for kids.

    8. Re:It's just me... by ROBOKATZ · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't think it has anything to do with education. Watching a movie with subtitles is like trying to drive while staring at the speedometer the whole time. Admittedly when you are watching a foreign language film you have two choices: read subtitles or put up with possibly a poorly performed dub job. Or learn the language. I think most people prefer taking their chances on a dub and not having the suspension of disbelief constantly ruined by needing to look away from the action to read. To suggest that most Americans prefer dubs because they can't read is ridiculous. Most Americans consider film watching a relaxing activity and do not want to have to put effort into watching movies. Hence subtitles are only used on 'art' films where it is given that the viewer will have to do some thinking and would rather hear the original performance (even if they can't understand it).

    9. Re:It's just me... by MBGMorden · · Score: 1

      I find them annoying on most actual video footage, but on animations it's much, much less noticeable. Animations are all dubbed anyways, and even though they try to match the mouth movements to the words, it never works out perfectly. Given that I've (and I'd think most people) come to not care about voice sync in an animation so much.

      Now, I'm sure that as technology progresses the mouth animations will get better and soon it will make a difference (though with CGI we could always just rerender with the mouths moving to match the proper language), but for now I'm still cool with the English dubs.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    10. Re:It's just me... by ADRA · · Score: 1

      "there's not enough there for non-fans."

      Correction, unless you really like CG for the sake of it, there is absolutely nothing there for non-fans. I watched it with 3 friends and they had absent 'let it end' looks on their faces. These were people that do watch CG/Sci-fi movies for lunch.

      There were a few decent fighting sequences, but thats it. Can anyone say they actually enjoyed the final climax of the show with Bahumet/Seph? It was like ohh they're jumping off buildings! OMFG! Not. Boring movie in that there's no investment in any of the characters. If you have to play 40+ hours of the game to feel for the people in the movie, then the director/company failed.

      --
      Bye!
    11. Re:It's just me... by Pxtl · · Score: 1

      What peeves me off is when they get actual good, expensive actors for a dubbing, and still screw it up. For example, see Princess Mononoke - I mean, most of the characters were decent, but Billy Bob Thorton in the place of the bounty-hunting monk was just absurd. It's not like they couldn't have gotten some lesser known actor whose voice wouldn't have seemed totally absurd coming out of such a face.

    12. Re:It's just me... by sesshomaru · · Score: 1
      It matters, in Japanese animation, because for many shows (and this was especially true of older anime) you would get the most bizarre dub jobs imaginable. Dialogue is dumbed down. Sections that are meant to be quiet would have dialogue added. You would get truly strange interpretations of the characters and their accents.

      Now, there are some extremely good dubs out there. They don't all suck. However, there is enough dubbed anime that sucks purely because of a botched up dub job to make people like me suspicious of dubbed anime. (Fortunately, with DVDs, I normally get both. In the days of tape, though, you had to make a choice.)

      Oh, and there are some cases where you'll just disagree with the localization, but won't necessarily think of it as wrong. For example, Tatewaki Kuno, in Ranma 1/2 (which has a very good dub) is constantly quoting Shakespeare in the dub as opposed to the classical Japanese poetry he spouts in the Japanese version. I understand why they did it, it makes sense (Kuno, a bore and a thug, likes to appear very cultured and well educated)... but I still prefer the subtitled version with the quotes from Japanese poetry.

      --
      "MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
    13. Re:It's just me... by WaterBreath · · Score: 1

      I mean, most of the characters were decent, but Billy Bob Thorton in the place of the bounty-hunting monk was just absurd. It's not like they couldn't have gotten some lesser known actor whose voice wouldn't have seemed totally absurd coming out of such a face.

      Oh gosh, that annoyed the piss out of me. For the first half of the movie, every time he spoke, I was yanked out of my immersion in the story by his ridiculously mismatched and overly recognizable voice.

      But it wasn't just the absurd voice that bothered me. I thought his voice-acting itself was absolutely terrible. Even after I got past the voice, there was the dead, line-reading style of his speech that kept pulling me right back out of the story. Maybe he was going for that "uncaring, emotionless bounty-hunter" effect, but instead he achieved the "I'm just reading these lines for the paycheck" effect. IIRC, I was really pissed that his character didn't die. I was hoping for some payback for the miserable performance.

    14. Re:It's just me... by Mike+deVice · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Personally, I prefer to hear the original language while reading subtitles. But dubs have their place, I think, for two reasons. Well, not reasons... just my preferences. ;)

      The one downside with subs is that you almost have to keep your eyes glued to the screen if you want to be sure not to miss anything. When I first watched FF:AC I did so at a time I wasn't likely to be distracted. Good thing too, because some of those subs flash by lighting fast at times. But sometimes you wanna watch a movie and not have to give it your wholly undivided attention. Just be casually entertained rather than a wholly submersive experience.

      Another interesting thing about dubs versus subs is that they're never the same. That is, subs tend to be translated slightly differently than the dubs. Subs usually are more precise... more faithful to the original. Dubs seem to be more flexible. For example, idioms tend to be more literally translated in subs, while dubs will substitute a similiar but more familiar western idiom in it's place. As a result, I'll usually watch the sub first, and then watch the dub at some later time. Comparing the two can occasionally provide interesting insights.

    15. Re:It's just me... by Piroca · · Score: 1


      That's not right, this is not a troll post! Whoever moderated this as a troll didn't understood the idea being pointed out.

    16. Re:It's just me... by gaijin99 · · Score: 1

      While I vastly prefer subs, the one time I watched my copy of Mononoke dubbed I actually liked Thorton's voice acting, and I thought he fit the character well. Surely I'm not the only one who liked it?

      --
      "Mission Accomplished" -- George W. Bush May 1, 2003
    17. Re:It's just me... by Com2Kid · · Score: 1

      Watching a movie with subtitles is like trying to drive while staring at the speedometer the whole time. ...
      and not having the suspension of disbelief constantly ruined by needing to look away from the action to read.


      It really is not that serious, after watching a few subtitled TV shows or movies, you get used to it. In fact, I am weirded out now when things are not subtitled.
      --
      Need help treating your acne? Come here!
    18. Re:It's just me... by devnull17 · · Score: 1

      Cowboy Bebop was pretty much the only Japanese-to-English video dub that I have ever found even remotely acceptable. A vast majority of games are butchered as well.

      Most anime and video game dubs suffer from at least one of three problems:

      1. Bad casting and hammy acting. There are a lot of crappy voice actors out there, and they apparently keep getting hired. Some of them annunciate like they're in a third grade Thanksgiving pageant. And some of them just have annoying voices. (I'd say that 75% of the female roles in most dubs meet that last criterion.)
      2. Lousy script translations. Even the best actor can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. (See Natalie Portman and Ewan MacGregor in Star Wars.)
      3. Lip sync problems. Japanese and English are very different from one another. A thought that may take one word to express in Japanese may take a full sentence in English, and vice-versa. (Almost anything can be contextually implied in Japanese; a verb by itself can be a perfectly valid sentence.) Footage is almost never redone to accomodate the translation, so you end up with a creepy disconnect between what you see and what you hear. Sometimes attempts are made to sync the speech to the visuals, but this generally makes matters even worse. A classic example of this is Yuna in Final Fantasy X. ("I... trail off... every few words... and sound... like that kid in the wheelchair... from Malcolm in... the Middle.")

      Subtitles are a much better option. They preserve more of the original experience (always a good thing), and even if the actors on the Japanese track are overacting and reading from the cheesiest script in the world, you'll never be able to tell. :)

    19. Re:It's just me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not what Limey refers to, look it up, it's to do with eating limes on ships to prevent scurvy.
      I guess most US people wouldn't know the term "Rosbif", and it's an OK translation though a bit less derogatory. I'd have used "damn Limeys".

    20. Re:It's just me... by Kassiopeia · · Score: 1

      It's culture. Subtitles probably take a little adjusting to if you haven't seen tha many of them in your life so far. People from the English-speaking zone will have their cultural needs met spoken in their own language, because there's a wealth of English-speaking content being produced. And if something isn't spoken in English, there's a large enough market to warrant dubbing.

      However, in small countries like those in Europe, you may have lingual groups of only a few million. The top countries like Germany with a pop of 80 mil dub their stuff too. (You haven't seen James Bond if you haven't seen him speaking German in a Bavarian accent.) And I doubt anyone would propose that Germany's level of education is as poor as that of the US.

      These small countries have small markets and poor broadcasting companies, so they resort to subtitles. That's how I learned both to read Finnish and to understand English, by watching shows spoken in English subtitled in Finnish. That's also why my ears bleed when I watch anything dubbed beyond simplest of children's shows.

    21. Re:It's just me... by mink · · Score: 1

      When I went to the big chain theater to see CTHD the only showing (release day) were subbed. I was unaware there was a theatrical release with the dub. I had no problems with the version I saw.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
  2. Hardly "stunning" plot-wise by itistoday · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In terms of visual effects and animation, sure I can agree to the "stunning" remark, but when it came to the plot, Advent Children fell more along the lines of mind "numbing".

    --
    Best. Webhost. Ever. Dreamhost.
    1. Re:Hardly "stunning" plot-wise by DorkusMasterus · · Score: 2, Informative

      Did you ever play Final Fantasy games? I personally love them, but also recognize that the plots have more holes than swiss cheese, and make about as much sense as a drunk stutterer. Seriously, this film is about a plot similar to FF7 and stunning visuals. I'm still excited about the film, as this is kind of what I expected. :)

    2. Re:Hardly "stunning" plot-wise by Rei · · Score: 1

      The film was a nostalgia fest. I enjoyed it. :) My favorite part was the scene..

      *** Spoiler Alert ***

      in which Tifa is fighting one of the silver haired men, I forget which, in a protracted, tough battle. It looks like she has him down for the count. All around the church, you hear the standard victory music, "Da da da da, da, da, da! da-da!" Very out of place, very amusing. Tifa catches her breath. Then you hear the victory music again - "Da da da da, da, da, da! da-da!" Tifa looks around, and the character she just beat up pulls himself out of the rubble, dusting himself off. "Da da da da, da, da, da! da-da!" He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cell, flipping it open, and answers it (the FF victory theme was his ringtone)

      --
      This administration is so incompetent that they cover their tracks with bigger tracks.
    3. Re:Hardly "stunning" plot-wise by itistoday · · Score: 1

      Yeah, FF7 is my favorite RPG, that's one of the reasons why I didn't like Advent Children: its plot paled in comparison to FF7's plot. They should just turn FF7 into a movie.

      --
      Best. Webhost. Ever. Dreamhost.
    4. Re:Hardly "stunning" plot-wise by TheMoonRat · · Score: 1

      I loved that part too; the problem when watching this scene is that at the time my text ring tone was that EXACT victory theme. Cue much searching around for my mobile to check the messages, and much confusion when there were no new messages.

    5. Re:Hardly "stunning" plot-wise by Starsmore · · Score: 1
      Call me a front-runner, but I made my ringtone into that victory theme (ripped right off the movie itself). :)

      Loved the looks I got at work the first day it went off. :)

      --
      "If Common Sense was so common, it wouldn't be such a valued trait."
  3. Too bad Mena Suvari sucks as Aerith by falcon5768 · · Score: 2, Informative

    She's horrendous in Kingdom Hearts II. I can only hope that she shows a inkling of emotion in AC because if its just as bad as KHII she's going to ruin the whole movie.

    --

    "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

    1. Re:Too bad Mena Suvari sucks as Aerith by The-Bus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem is not Mena Suvari, it's movie studios and game producers relying on "famous voices" as opposed to "voice actors" when they create new works. While a lot of famous voices make pretty good voice actors (see: SSX Tricky, the GTA series), I think you'd see a bigger payoff in using real voice actors than just someone famous. Look at Futurama for example: with the exception of Katey Sagal, the entire cast is made up of voice actors who do (did?) a fantastic job. But everytime I see a Hollywood starlet used as voice "talent" in an animated show or game, I cringe. Half of the time, these women are used because they're attractive and their acting qualities come in second, third, or N/A. What would make anyone think you'd want to hear their voices?

      --

      Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

    2. Re:Too bad Mena Suvari sucks as Aerith by genx88 · · Score: 1

      Ding, ding, ding, give this man a prize. You've definetly hit the nail on the head here. It's all about marketing and money. Now granted, there are a lot of screen actors that do a good deal of voice acting and do it well. Usually, these are the people with distinct voices like Christopher Lee and the like. Then, there's the career voice actors who have basically helped out on every cartoon under the sun. They usually have diversity in spades and the average viewer would be hard pressed to hear the difference between their characters. Then, there's the actors that come in and read lines. That's exactly what Mena Suvari sounds like she was doing when reading for KHII. Ugh. Why bother spending the money to pay a well known actress more when an obscure voice actor can do as good of a job, if not better? But hey, now companies are hiring actors to do voice overs for 30 second commercial spots and no one in the public even recognizes them. Why? Just why?

    3. Re:Too bad Mena Suvari sucks as Aerith by Rei · · Score: 1

      As with every aspect of life daily, Futurama is applicable.

      Wizard of Oz Farnsworth: "And you, lad, all you need is a brain."

      Scarecrow Fry: "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

      --
      This administration is so incompetent that they cover their tracks with bigger tracks.
    4. Re:Too bad Mena Suvari sucks as Aerith by arodland · · Score: 1

      I don't think it would be too much of a spoiler to say that she doesn't get too much of a chance to be good or bad. Yes, she's a significant character in a way, but that doesn't mean she has a lot of lines. Come to think of it, there are very few characters in the movie that have more than two or three lines; that's just the way the thing was written.

    5. Re:Too bad Mena Suvari sucks as Aerith by sebi · · Score: 1

      In all fairness I have to admit that pretty much everyone I know keeps saying 'Is this George Clooney?' when that Budweiser spot comes on. And the general consensus always was that it had to be him. Nobody necessarily thought it was 'cool' as the article you linked to suggests, but it was noted and it does make the spot stand out.

      --
      Hank! White!
    6. Re:Too bad Mena Suvari sucks as Aerith by zeeroj · · Score: 1

      Ruin the whole movie? puh-leaze. Aerith is such a minor role as to be insignificant. Her lines could be entirely cut and no one would notice.

  4. Excellent! by BigDork1001 · · Score: 1

    I saw this in Japanese and was just blown away by it. I never played FFVII so was a little lost in the story but the visuals of the movie more than made up for it. It was just so... amazing. I can't wait to be able to see this on the big screen.

    --
    "Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero
    1. Re:Excellent! by Sir_Sri · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately you've missed your chance for the big screen likely. The film was slated for one day in a theatre and then DVD on april I think 25th (or thereabouts). Unless of course you're fortunate enough to live near cinema that will play it anyway, even with the DVD out, but I don't live in a big enough city for that sort of thing.

      I really would like to see it in theatres though, I saw the japanese as part of our schools anime club, and it really does deserve the big screen (and proper audio).

      Oddly enough, FFVII: AC is probably the only thing that will actually sell on UMD and make a profit. Its worth it.

    2. Re:Excellent! by lidocaineus · · Score: 1

      You are the reason we get endless movies of overloaded eye candy and absolutely no plot.

  5. Hows the Translation by quantax · · Score: 1

    I was able to see this movie last year with fan-made subtitles, and while the movie itself was pretty damn good visually, story-wise, the dialogue left quite a bit to be desired. So I am curious as to how the official translation will compare to the fan made one. Anyone lucky enough to have seen the english version yet and compare? Or perhaps, understood the Japanese version and can comment on the english fan subs.

    --
    "What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
    1. Re:Hows the Translation by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 1

      I was able to see this movie last year with fan-made subtitles, and while the movie itself was pretty damn good visually, story-wise, the dialogue left quite a bit to be desired. So I am curious as to how the official translation will compare to the fan made one.

      More than likely, very poorly.

      Than Fansub was unparalleled. I've rarely seen something translated so well in such a short space of time. No engrish, no errors, just the love of FFVII freaks giving their gift to all of FFVII Fandom.

      The "offical" translation will likely be a cold, sterile affair written by someone who has never even played FFVII. I'm keeping the Fansub for when I finally mux the DVD Rip into an mkv.

      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
    2. Re:Hows the Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      No engrish, no errors, just the love of FFVII freaks giving their gift to all of FFVII Fandom.

      Wow. I'd love to know which copy of the fansub you got your hands on. And I mean the soft subs since those were the only ones out for a few days. I agree that Jasconius's translation was spot on but it wasn't "perfect" if only because he mistranslated one of the character names. And then the harder subs with the DVD format would sometimes have text that kept sprawling off the screen or disintegrating to random characters.

  6. IMDB by steveo777 · · Score: 2, Informative
    IMDB has the list up as well. For those of us at work who can't read about video games (grumbles for a while and goes back to work).

    By the way, saw the movie in Japanese a while ago. It's amazing eye candy. Loved it.

    --
    This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
    1. Re:IMDB by some+guy+on+slashdot · · Score: 1

      There's something seriously wrong with the way this movie is listed in IMDB. All the English voices are just appended to the original listing, which makes it look like all these voice actors were in the movie two years ago.

    2. Re:IMDB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's amazing eye candy.

      ...and not much else.

  7. Aer-who? by Minwee · · Score: 1

    Couldn't we all just agree that her name is Aeris and pretend that we never saw any other spelling?

    1. Re:Aer-who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah, the Japanophile's who have played the import, or more likely, read on the internet that her name was Aerith in the Japanese version will claim the American translating it to something different was a travesty or something, and deeply offensive to them, and will continue calling her by what they consider her rightful name.

      It's weird. I had a mild argument once with someone about it and their zeal made it seem almost like a deeply held religious belief.

    2. Re:Aer-who? by realinvalidname · · Score: 1

      Oh, but then the obsessive know-it-all fanboys wouldn't be able to go off about how the spelling on Japan-only toys and other other merchandise is somehow more canonical than the Square-supervised English localization of the game itself.

      --realinvalidname

    3. Re:Aer-who? by genx88 · · Score: 2, Informative
      Pfft, forget the "s" and "th" debate and just stick with the katakana.

      Now, it'll be interesting to see what Square does with the Tseng/Zeng thing-- oh wait, the U.S. isn't getting "Last Order" released so it's a non issue.

      Although, the name swapping for "Shera" and "Sierra" will be interesting. Since Cid's assistant was "Shera" in the localization and "Sierra" in the Japanese version in and the Advent Children action figures have the new airship labeled as "Sierra". If Squeenix can't make up their mind, why should we. ^_~

    4. Re:Aer-who? by realinvalidname · · Score: 1

      I tried to post the katakana, but /. won't take it. Escaped, it's

      エアリス

      One thing that's so funny about the "Aerith" crowd is that even if "th" were a better transliteration of "su" than "s" (even though it's commonly used as both, as in "Sumisu" for "Smith" and "Kurisu" for "Chris"), they don't account for why the "E" and "A" have been exchanged from "Earisu". Maybe because then, along with the "th", it too obviously ends up as "Earth", which supposedly was the idea for her name in the first place.

      --realinvalidname

    5. Re:Aer-who? by some+guy+on+slashdot · · Score: 1

      Oooh, nice. The only thing I could ever figure was that "aeris" means "of/to the wind" in Latin; which kind of makes sense in an abstract, zen sort of way. Maybe.

      In any case, I find the slutty cheerleader from American Beauty playing JRPG Jesus both deeply disturbing, and somehow appropriate.

    6. Re:Aer-who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Probably because, strictly speaking, "AE" and "EA" are pronounced the same in English - a "hard E". So her name should be pronounced "EAR-is" or "EAR-ith" depending on which transliteration you take as canonical. The "AE" spelling is frequently used in fantasy works to make a word appear "more fantasy-ish".

      The common "AIR-is" or "AIR-ith" pronounciation is just flat-out wrong, based on the English spelling given. And, if I understand what you're telling me, it's also not the pronounciation the original Japanese katakana used.

      I tried to post the katakana, but /. won't take it.

      I guess Slashdot is back in a "damned foreigners!" mood. Slashcode can easily handle Katakana - Slashdot Japan kinda needs to. It seems Slashdot randomly goes through periods when they'll only accept comments written in 7-bit ASCII and then through periods when they'll happily take any valid UNICODE character. (More noticed when Brits attempt to post using the Pound symbol, or when a European tries to spell their name correctly but instead has to strip accents or, in some cases, choose letters that just look similar.)

      Evidently we're back to a "damned foreigners, 7-bit ASCII only!" period.

    7. Re:Aer-who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the KH series also sticks with the - correct - "Aerith" spelling.

    8. Re:Aer-who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We could, if it weren't for the fact that Square themselves has used "Aerith" in every English product she's appeared in other than FF7. Face it, you're clinging on to a mistake.

    9. Re:Aer-who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Square actually made it canon with the release of the first Kingdom Hearts. Still, just because the company says its so doesn't mean the fans have to accept it. Midichlorians anyone?

    10. Re:Aer-who? by demon · · Score: 1

      I dunno, her voice was so flat in Kingdom Hearts II (yeah, I'm playing it - so sue me). At least the girl they had voicing Aerith in the original one had a little more substance to her voice - Mena Suvari should *not* do voice acting, based on what I've heard so far in this game.

      --

      Sam: "That was needlessly cryptic."
      Max: "I'd be peeing my pants if I wore any!"
    11. Re:Aer-who? by steveo777 · · Score: 1

      I don't know if this is anything new, but I have an American version of the game where her default name is Aeris.

      --
      This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
    12. Re:Aer-who? by Starsmore · · Score: 1
      Unless I was on drugs and remembering differently, Mena Suvari was Aerith in the first Kingdom Hearts, as well....

      I guess I am on drugs. It was Mandy Moore in the first one.

      --
      "If Common Sense was so common, it wouldn't be such a valued trait."
    13. Re:Aer-who? by uhmmmm · · Score: 1

      "AIR-is/ith" may be wrong based on the English spelling, but it is correct going by the katakana spelling. The two vowels at the beginning of the name, romanized straight from the katakana are "ea". This combination of vowels sounds roughly like the vowel in the English "bear" or "air". And incidentally, there's a counterexample that shows "EA" is not always pronounced as a hard 'e' in English: "bear".

    14. Re:Aer-who? by Maserati · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but it's not like drugs and Kingdom Hearts are a bad combination.

      II is at the top of my queue on Gamefly. And yes, I did just miss getting it for the weekend. Damnit. Maybe drugs and Kingdom Hearts are a bad combination.

      --
      Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
    15. Re:Aer-who? by devnull17 · · Score: 1

      It's a tricky issue. Her "official" name was in Japanese katakana, of course, and would be transliterated as Earisu (Ay-ah-ree-su). Japanese is, phonetically speaking, pretty restrictive--you can only make about a hundred differenct sounds. There are a lot of different English spellings and even pronunciations (just off the top of my head, "air lease" would work, among other weird examples) that would result in the same Japanese spelling.

      However, the developers of most Japanese RPG's name their characters in Roman letters as well. The concept sketch that was handed to the 3D modellers back when FF7 was just a gleam in Hironobu Sakaguchi's eye was labelled "Aerith." Whether that means more to you than her name in the version of the game that you actually played is entirely a matter of perspective. Personally, I'd say that "Aerith" is the correct spelling.

      I also think this is a pretty dumb argument to be having, so take that for what it's worth. :)

    16. Re:Aer-who? by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      With all this dispute going on about the name I'd say that Eris would be an appropriate translation.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    17. Re:Aer-who? by mowph · · Score: 1

      According to the producers, "Aerith" was originally created by taking the English letters for "Earth" into their corresponding (written) Japanese syllables. This gave the Japanese writing in katakana as E A RI SU. That was then taken back to English as "Aerith" for the official English spelling of the Japanese product.

      In the English release of the game, the katakana writing was romanized as "Aeris" (which actually sounds closer to the Japanese pronunciation) instead, giving rise to the debate.

      Ironically, "aeris" exists as a word in latin -- but it means "air", the opposite of "earth". And coincidentally, the pronunciation overlaps with the Japanese reading for the English word "air".

      The combination of two Japanese vowels E A goes a lot further than sounding roughly like English "air", it has been used to transliterate the word "air" for a long time. For example, EAKON (abbreviation for air conditioner - "air con") and EAMEERU (air mail) are both existing Japanese words based off the English word "air".

  8. ObIMDB by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 1

    Advent Children listing for those who want to click around and find out who these people are. Personally, I think it looks like a more or less good cast, and have high hoppes. Despite what the MPAA usually has to say about such things, I'll definitely be picking up this DVD to replace my download.

    --
    Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  9. Have you even seen Advent Children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have you even seen the damned movie? I could write every single one of Aerith's lines on the back of my hand. She doesn't have a big speaking part in the movie, like Tifa does.

    1. Re:Have you even seen Advent Children? by falcon5768 · · Score: 1

      yes I have seen the movie, and while she doesnt have a huge speaking part, she has a bigger one than say 70% of the gang, and to have what is one of the most beloved characters speaking in a flat monotone voice like they dont really give a shit, its a paycheck is a problem.

      --

      "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

  10. big screen istheshit! by Ricken · · Score: 1

    wonder if they'll ever show this in the cinemas in sweden, probably not I saw the original version, stunning, croudo really likes to show off

    1. Re:big screen istheshit! by Mishotaki · · Score: 1

      the only place where it hits the big sceen is in Japan... other than the cinema festival that there was in Montreal where they showed a subbed version a while ago and the showing they did not long ago, there is nowhere else in North America where it's gonna be showed.... with that said, i doubt that they will put it on the big screen for another country.... to them Japan is big... we're only the small losers....

  11. Voice actors by Dachannien · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's good to see the professional voice-actors getting some props alongside the stars in this article (though admittedly this is a gaming blog, not Variety).

    As Billy West has noted in the past, when animation goes Hollywood, the professional voice actors who draw a normal-sized paycheck get pushed out in favor of big-name movie stars. But the big names don't do much more than just stand there and read their lines, because they don't know the first thing about breathing life into a character or making the character memorable.

    1. Re:Voice actors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sometimes the big actors do a good job though - check out Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. All the voices are done by established screen actors.

      The difference is, I think, that most of them are British, where they are used to pushing their craft, rather than the bland Hollywood types who get famous for merely looking good :)

  12. No N*Sync by genx88 · · Score: 1

    Is anyone else just happy that Lance Bass isn't voicing Sephiroth?

    1. Re:No N*Sync by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was just happy to have not heard anything about any boy band for quite some time, but alas... Thanks a lot you insensitive clod!

  13. Rachael Leigh Cook by uglysad · · Score: 1

    RLC is a highly underrated actress in my opinion. I love her stuff and thinks she should get more credit.

    I even liked Josie with its heavy heavy product placement, even though it was part of the "plot"

    1. Re:Rachael Leigh Cook by ClamIAm · · Score: 1

      Yeah, she did excellent voice work in, uh, ... oh wait.

    2. Re:Rachael Leigh Cook by Daggon · · Score: 1

      And excellent acting work in ... well ...

  14. Depends on the voice actor by phorm · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Many of the animes I've heard with english dubs were painful. The ones that were worst, however, were generally when I'd heard the (better) original Japanese voice-acting while watching with subtitles.

    I do remember that the voices on Trigun were actually decent.

    However, in this - the day of DVD's - one should be able to get a disk with subtitles and voice-tracks in both English and the original Japanese.

    1. Re:Depends on the voice actor by mink · · Score: 1

      I tried watching the dub of Trigun. I go up to the neon lights guy on the train and had to change it. It wasn't all the quality of acting. The main cast was good enough to watch. But single use characters and generic ones tended to suck IMO. Also the translation for the dub script changed some characters and things in ways I did not like from the way those same characters and situations came across in the subs.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
  15. We have a winner! by RoffleTheWaffle · · Score: 1

    I made a bet with my friends that the voice actor of Spike - Steven Blum - was going to be in this one. Yaknow, since he's already in fucking everything. (I about shit my pants when I heard him in Call of Duty's expansion as the voice of Captain Foley.) The stakes were even higher over the probability that the voice of Inuyasha would be incorporated into the movie at least once, but we finally called that one off after we concluded that if that same voice actor were heard anywhere in the entire movie, we wouldn't be watching it anyway.

    I just made like, five dollars.

  16. All these stupid dubs.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only thing good about these dubs is um... well... i cant theink of anything... huh suprising? not really.

    ive seen the fan-subbed version about 7 times and it is very good... the whole plot thing kinda doesnt follow anything.... but the general idea was cool and the visuals were top notch.

    i probbably will buy it in the us but only watch it in nihongo with subtitles because ANY english voice actor dubbing over a japanese show whether it be love hina or ff:ac (if you have seen both sub and dub versions of love hina you will know what im talkin about...) just blow ass. period. why change what is allready good? so that people to damn lazy to learn how to read can have an inkling of whats going on? that just urks me to no end.... GAO!

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

    p.s. /. wouldnt let me logon... kept taking me to some banner ad on a blank page... lol

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
    Ascii_fire

  17. Video Game talent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm actually psyched to see that the guy who's cast as Vincent played the G-Men in Psychonauts. I wonder if he'll get any lines like, "I work on the road crew." And then, the guy who did the voice of Regal in Tales of Symphonia is doing Rude, and I thought he was one of the best voice actors in that game.

    I'm slightly worried about the overuse of video game voice actors, although from what I've heard the dialogue is so simple, it might be on par with, "Use first aid packs to regain health," or "The castle is north of here."

  18. It's not the dub... by Jack+Johnson · · Score: 1
    It's the plot in many cases.

    After watching anime for over 20 years and I've come to realize that reading subtitles somehow filters the juvenile dialog of shows crafted for children into something more palatable. On the other hand, when you actually hear the squeaky voiced character scream out "special attacks" and magic spells in english you can't ignore just how ridiculous it all really is.

  19. Indeed! by SlickMcSly · · Score: 1

    It's sad, but the Japanese have an odd xenophobic/xenophilic relationship with foreign cultures. If you knew how often they tried try to use engrish diarog superfluously (e.g. Ahsumo powa, 100%!!!) let alone Japanese buzzwords (e.g. Fire Dragon Cherry Blossom Pedal Wind!), I think ppl would so embarassed they'd claim it's porn if they were caught with it. I watch lots of fansubs b4 commercial releases (don't ask, I won't tell you where to get them), the subbers realize this and generally censor the corn and cheese pouring out of their mouths into something ppl can swallow. If any1's heard old school anime dubs, "I'm going over there because that's where I'm going to do that thing I'm going over there," then you know how damaging direct translation can be. On the otherhand, lips and timeframes not syncing up suck as well. Personally I think ppl should just learn to read properly (i.e. as fast as ppl talk). The movie "Hero" was a lot better hearing chinese voices in a chinese historical setting.

  20. Speedometer on Windshield by Nazmun · · Score: 1

    It takes me a split second to read one line of subtitles + the fact that it's on the screen rather then below it (like a dashboard). Even if i don't shift my focus from subtitles i can still see the rest of the movie.

    Very different from staring at your dashboard, i don't see the road much or notice it at all. The angle difference is much greater and you actually have to move your head to shift visual focus in the car.

    --
    Hmmm... Pie...
    1. Re:Speedometer on Windshield by ureshii_akuma · · Score: 1

      Not only that, but in general, scenes that have a lot happening on screen (action sequence, for instance) tend to have minimal dialog. So, it is more like watching the speedometer on your windshield during stretches of narrow roads, and only briefly glancing at it during the curvy bits. And I think I have officially stretched the analogy too far ...

  21. Mod Up Please by Nazmun · · Score: 1

    In addition to the VA's and the studion I'd like to add that the localization/translation team are also very important. The reason many anime fans like myself prefer subs is that a lot of Anime's had extremely poor or vastly changed translations along with horrible voice acting. However there were some rare gems with awesome English dubbing like Cowboy Bebop.

    --
    Hmmm... Pie...
  22. Slightly More Realistic Physics Needed by Nazmun · · Score: 1

    While I don't care about being too realistic but randomly flying without any visible force or chi (as used in animes) was annoying. The action seemed too fake.

    --
    Hmmm... Pie...
  23. Re:Haha! You anime nerds are funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This isn't a troll, this is tough love. Come on fanboi mods!

  24. Re:Haha! You anime nerds are funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Reading the anime geeks pratter on about meaningless crap is always a good read. I love the bitching about dubs vs subs - like these cartoons are Seven Samurai or something.

  25. Les rosbifs... by meringuoid · · Score: 1
    the police chief refers to 'le roast bif' and we get the subtitles 'the limeys'. hell i dont know any french but that is pretty damn obvious.

    Ever called a Frenchman a 'frog' because that's what they eat?

    Well, guess what they call the English.

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  26. Why is parent a troll? by xerxesdaphat · · Score: 1

    Why is parent modded a troll? It's a perfectly fine comment. I may agree with what he said, but even if I didn't, I wouldn't mod this a troll. WTF?

    --
    The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers
  27. Re:Haha! You anime nerds are funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A life? You mean like trolling anonymously on Slashdot?